Night by Elie Wiesel

Madison | Holmdel High School, Grade 11

Rating: *****

Elie Wiesel was 15 years old when he entered Auschwitz, one of the biggest concentration camps during World War. Before arriving at the camp, Wiesel, his family, and many other Jews were shoved into cattle cars for three long days. When arriving at the camp, Wiesel was separated from his mother and sister, which would be the last time they had ever seen each other. The only person Elie had left was his father. Throughout this experience, Elie will face battles with his religion, faith, and father. This book is Elie Wiesel recalling moments from this horrible experience and writing about them.

This book is heartbreaking to read. The horrible experiences this man went through at such a young age is truly a nightmare. When I was reading, I cried because I would think about the thousands of lives that were taken and tortured through that time period. I would picture the people running in the snow, shoved in the cattle cars, walking to the crematorium, etc. The book itself is truly well written. It is an easier book to understand, but a harder book to read because of the topic. I would recommend reading it if it is a topic a person is interested in and wants to be educated on. I applaud Elie Wiesel for being able to write an entire book about this topic.

Isabella | Howell High School, Grade 10

Rating: ****

Night written by Elie Wiesel follows the tear-jerking narration of his experiences as a Jewish boy in 1944, as he is stripped of his family, home, and way of life throughout the holocaust. Alongside the invasion of his home and pretty much everything he is ever known, Wiesel struggles in keeping his faith in his religion. We are taken through his journey from concentration camp to camp and are able to see the full side of this infamous event.

His telling of his experiences helps the reader understand just how horrible the Jews were actually treated. We all know the Holocaust was one of the worst things to happen in history, and nobody wants to relive those events, but those were not personally connected can never have a full understanding of how essentially every last Jew was killed, physically or mentally. After reading this book it opened my eyes to the truth. I now felt the fear of glancing at the crematorium, I felt the exhaust of running hours on end, I felt the depression of never being able to see your mother again through his powerful words. It is good to see a survivor telling their story of how they truly have struggled. In history, the victors tell the stories and the losers are silenced, but not as these losers come forward we are able to see the whole story, the truth, in all its gore.